Molded ski

ABSTRACT

A one-shot molded ski having cored recesses at a right angle to the general plane of the ski, said recesses being arranged where desired according to the requirements of the design of the ski.

United States Patent [191 Bennett [54] MOLDED SKI [76] Inventor: William N. Bennett, 69 Rollingwood Lane, West Concord, Mass. 01742 [22] Filed: Oct. 23, 1970 [21] App]. No.: 83,345

[52] US. Cl. .2815/11113 R [51] Int. Cl ..A63c 5/12 [58] Field of Search ..280/11.13

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,581,532 1/1952 Hem ..280/11.13 L

[ 1 May 22, 1973 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,453,516 8/1966 France ..280/1 1.13 L

2,005,056 12/1969 France ..280/11.13 L

Primary ExaminerKenneth H. Betts Assistant ExaminerMi1ton L. Smith Attorney-Charles R. Fay

[ 5 7 ABSTRACT 2 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures MOLDED SKI BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Skis have been made of many materials. The modernday tendency is towards fiber-glass. Fiber-glass skis have been made utilizing a core, usually of wood, but sometimes of metal or plastic, with laminations at the top and bottom surfaces. Certain fiber-glass skis have been made using channels of fiber-glass in which the channels extend for specified distances along the ski, these channels then being covered by fiber-glass sheets. Other fiber-glass skis have been provided with reenforced center cores and as for instance fiber-glass and epoxy envelopes or envelopes with polyethylene bases.

However there are disadvantages encountered in all of these skis. In addition to resisting proper design of the different zones of the ski from end to end thereof, they are also expensive and difficult to standardize as to ski form and shape, it being recognized that skis should be flexible as to design for different types of skis, the weight should be able to be controlled, and the strength of the skis at various zones from end to end should also be easily controlled. In addition, prior art custom built skis for racing, have not been feasible without excessive cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the present case a ski is molded in one shot in a die and is then provided with top and bottom surfaces and steel edges. The dies are provided with core pins which extend generally from either top or bottom of the ski or from one surface only thereof, and the core pins are provided in such a way as to make them easily replaceable for the use of larger or smaller core pins, depending upon the amount of material which it is desired to be incorporated in the ski in a particular zone. In addition, the cores are variable as to spacing for the purpose of proper and varied design of different zones such as the tip, shovel, fulcrum point, running surface, mounting zone, heel, etc., and this is done merely by changing the cores in the die.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an edge view of a so-called Alpine ski;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, parts being in section, and parts broken away to show an example of the novel ski with hexagonal recesses;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section through a portion of a novel ski having cored recesses extending from both top and bottom thereof;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a ski illustrating cored recesses located at one side only of the ski;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of one form of die and the resultant ski, and

FIG. 6 is a composite plan view illustrating variation of core design.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION In order to explain the variations in ski design, attention is directed to FIG. 1 showing an Alpine ski. The ski tip is indicated at 10; the shovel at 12; the apparent fulcrum point at 14; common fracture zone 16; the heel is shown at 18, and the running surface under load extends from the point at 20 to the point at 22. The mounting zone or load position is indicated at 24; 26 indicates what is commonly referred to as the forward section; 28 indicates the approximate balance point;

and 30 indicates the camber, while 32 shows the rear area of common fracture.

Most of these areas and distances differ according to the size of the ski and its function as to intended usage, i.e., slalom, giant slalom, or downhill, cross-country, etc.

Generally speaking as shown in FIG. 2, the present ski is formed in a mold extending from end to end of the ski, this core being indicated generally by the reference numeral 36. As shown in FIG. 2 it is provided with the cored recesses 38 which extend to the top of the ski and similar or different cored recesses 40 extending to the bottom of the ski in alternate juxtaposition, leaving solid walls between the recesses. A running surface is shown at 42 and this may be made conveniently of appropriate plastic material, and steel edges 44 are provided as well as the top surface skin generally indicated at 46. With the type of ski shown in FIG. 2 the running surface and the top skin are applied after molding the main body portion 36, but the steel edges are preferably placed in the mold and molded into the body.

FIG.-3 shows a section of the ski of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 shows a similar ski in which the cored recesses all extend from only one surface, e.g., the top of the ski, the cored holes being shown at 48, in which case the bottom of the ski has a continuous surface 50 as well as the applied running surface 52, and top skin 54. The recess may also extend from only the bottom surface, and any variation desired may be arranged.

Now referring to FIG. 5, there is shown an exploded view with the ski of FIG. 2 formed by a mold having upper and lower part as indicated at 60 and 62 respectively, the parts of the ski are indicated as before.

These mold parts may be made in any way desired or convenient to the correct shape of the ski but it is to be noted that the cores themselves which are indicated at 64 in the top mold part 60, and at 66 in the bottom moldpart 62 are held in place by fasteners generally indicated at 68 and they can be removed and replaced by cores of different sizes or shapes. Also there may be provision for more fasteners and cores than are here shown and any cores may be omitted in such patterns as may be desired in order to suit different conditions and different zones of the ski itself. Also, FIG. 6 illustrates that the size, shapes, and spacing of the cores may be varied to any degree desired according to the design of the particular ski involved.

The core variation is provided for desired flex, torsion, weight and balance, as to variant wall thicknesses and density increasing or decreasing exposed surface area for top and base bonding and if desired the steel edges can be molded right into the body form and positively located by the top and the base mold.

One variation is that any ski may be cored on one surface only depending upon the section or the zone of the ski as explained in FIG. '1. For instance, it has been found that it is better to core on the top surface only for the section of the ski as explained in FIG. 1. For instance, it has been found that it is better to core on the top surface only for the section of the ski from the tip at 10 as far as the fracture area 16, as this area is subject to railing or excessive wear of the plastic running surface next to the edges.

It is pointed out that this invention is totally different in principal from that of the well known honeycomb sandwich made of any so-called core" material, i.e., paper, foil, fiberglass, etc., which cannot hold its shape under tension or compression and is limited in its mechanical properties to the materials used for securing the parts together. The present novel structure is a molded form without the need for top or bottom surfaces.

It is pointed out that in the ski as shown in FIG. 1 certain areas will be made with the cored openings at one side surface only, e.g., to top surface, and in other portions of the ski the cored openings may extend from both sides, depending upon the design of the particular ski and the area of the ski under consideration.

In this application, the term ski refers to any similar device for gliding relative to a supporting medium,

ses is irregular. 

1. A one-piece molded plastic ski having zones longitudinally of the ski of different flexibility, a plurality of cored recesses in the ski, said recesses extending transversely of the general plane of the ski and being of different widths to provide more or less plastic material in the several zones of the ski, thereby providing the zones of different flexibility, and molded in steel edges.
 2. The ski of claim 1 wherein the spacing of the recesses is irregular. 